Trivia / Unbroken

• Banned in China: The film was almost banned in Japan, along with Angelina Jolie herself, due to Japan’s views on WWII and their role in it.
• The Cast Showoff: A Deleted Scene showcases Miyavi's musical talents.
• Dawson Casting: Watanabe and Zamperini were only one year apart in age, with Watanabe being one year younger. Miyavi was thirty-three when he was cast in the role, and is nine years older than Jack O'Connell.
• Fake American: Jack O'Connell (English), Domhnall Gleeson (Irish), and Jai Courtney (Australian). Impressively, none of their accents slip. O'Connell even pulls off Zamperini's California-accented Gratuitous Italian convincingly.
• Method Acting: Miyavi purposefully distanced himself from the cast and crew to get a feel of how Watanabe was as a person in a shot of this, but the intensity of his role often led to him breaking down in tears or vomiting when filming particularly violent scenes and could not keep him fully immersed in the role. The only way he could even bring himself to do the scenes was to imagine the cast members harming his family, more specifically his children.
• Promoted Fanboy: When the Japanese casting director for Unbroken met with Miyavi, he had little knowledge of the film, its story, or anything about it. When she asked him who his favorite actor was, he immediately answered with Angelina Jolie, having absolutely no idea that she was the director behind the project, or that she was a fan of his and had sought him out personally for the role of Watanabe. He later jokingly said on an episode of Ellen that this was why he got the part.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: Based off the book detailing the firsthand account of Olympic athlete-turned-POW camp survivor Louie Zamperini's two year experience being tortured by the Japanese army.
• Star-Making Role: In spite of its mixed reception, this film officially introduced international actors Jack O'Connell (after his supporting role in the Michael Caine thriller Harry Brown) and Miyavi to Hollywood recognition.

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